Thirty per cent of South Africans have fallen victim to bank card fraud over the past five years, according to a ACI Universal Payments study, with consumers increasingly losing faith in the platform.
ACI said 63 per cent of individuals who have experienced card fraud are likely to use their replacement cards less while 55 per cent of individuals are very concerned about reclaiming their financial identity once they have fallen victim to card fraud.
“As organised fraud rings relentlessly develop new methods of stealing funds and identities, consumers are increasingly losing confidence that there is anything that can be done to reverse this downward spiral,” it said.
It said globally one in ten consumers had experienced card fraud multiple times in the past five years.
The habit of consumers, the company said, allows fraudsters to access confidential information.
According to the company, throwing away smartphones, responding to emails asking for banking information, unencrypted connections to online retailers, throwing away banking paperwork, and storing a note of PINs with a banking card are the most common ways for fraudsters to gain access to accounts.
Jonathan Smit, managing director (MD) and founder of PayFast, said last year credit card fraud makes up themajority of online fraud in South Africa.
He described card use in South Africa as a “very peculiar market”.
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